Horse-blanket fastener.



S. S. SMITH. HORSE BLANKET FASTENER. APPLICATION FILED 11.22, 1910.

Patented July 4, 1911.

wiltmaawo COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 20., WASHINGTON, D. C

SAMUEL S. SMITH, OF SCI-IUYLER, PENNSYLVANIA.

HORSE-BLANKET FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1911.

Application filed March 22, 1910. Serial No. 551,014.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL S. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schuyler, in the county of Northumberland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Horse-Blanket F astener, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is a device for holding horse blankets in position upon the animal, and the particular object of the invention is to provide a device for such purpose which will be simple in construction and by the use of which the blanket will be firmly held in its proper position upon the animal without any inconvenience or discomfort to the animal. Such a device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the invention consists in certain novel features of the same which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved fastener showing it in connection with a portion of a blanket and a portion of a trace. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the fastener detached from the trace and the blanket.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a single integral structure composed of a single length of wire tapered at one end to provide a point 1 and extending from the,

said point in a straight line to provide a blanket-engaging pin or shank 2 from which the wire is doubled on itself, as shown at 3, to provide a trace-engaging arm 4 disposed approximately parallel with the pin 2 and extending nearly to the extremity of the tapered portion or point 1 where it is bent sharply at a right angle, as shown at 5, to extend laterally a short distance and is then bent at a right angle to provide the outwardly-extending arm 6. At the end of the arm 6, the wire is formed into a coil or complete turn 7 which may be carried through several convolutions, if so desired, but is illustrated as consisting of a single turn. From this coil 7, the wire is carried upward above the outstanding arm 6, as shown at 8, and is then bent inward toward the member 4:, as shown at 9, and then carried downward parallel with the said member 1 and doubled on itself to provide a double traceengaging member 10, the branches of this trace-engaging member 10 being joined at their lower ends by a short bend 11 disposed somewhat below the outstanding arm 6.

From the upper end of this trace-engaging member 10 a second bend 12 corresponding to the bend 9 is formed in the wire, and from the said bend 12 a second arm 13 corresponding in all respects to the arm 8 is carried down below the plane of the outstanding arm 6, where it is coiled, as shown at 14, and then carried inward, as shown at 15, beyond the pin 2 and has its end doubled on itself to provide a guard or keeper 16 adapted to engage the said pin.

It is thought the use and advantages of my improved device will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. The pin 2 is engaged in the blanket 17, as shown in Fig. 1, and the point of the said pin is engaged in the keeper 16 so as to prevent its disengagement from the blanket, as will be readily understood, it being noted that the keeper 16 terminates a slight distance from the shoulder or bend 5 so as to provide an opening or space through which the pin may pass in the manipulation of the device. The fastener having been engaged in the blanket, as shown and just described, the trace 18 is engaged between the members 4 and 10, as shown in Fig. 1, and will be clasped by the said members so that the fastener will be firmly held at that point on the trace at which it may be placed, it being readily appreciated that the shape given to the structure will impart a high degree of resiliency to the members a and 10 so that they will be caused to engage the opposite sides of the trace with an appreciable degree of force and, consequently, clamp the trace so that movement of the device along the same will be prevented. The parts are so disposed that the single wire trace-enga ing member 4 will lie in a plane between the planes of the branches of the doubled wire trace-engaging member 10, while the tendency of the bends 3, 9 and 12, and the coils 7 and 14; is to force the traceengaging members toward each other to clamp the trace. It will be also noted that the trace can be readily slipped downward into position between the trace-engaging members, as no obstruction to such movement is presented by the device and that the slipping of the trace below the fastener will be prevented by the substantially horizontal parallel arms 6 and 15. The trace engaging member 10 has the bend 11 extending beyond that side of the arms 6 and the user, the thumb engaging the loops 7 "and 14 and the fore-finger engaging the loop 11, when by a suitable pressure the loop 11 -may be moved toward the coils 7 and 14,

thereby bending the member 10 away from the member 4. The U-shaped loop made up of members 8, 10 and 13 will co-act with the trace engaging arm 4: in such manner that whether the trace be thick or thin, the trace-engaging arm 4 and the double traceengaging member 10 will grip the trace throughout practically their entire length,

the member 10 yielding readily to different thicknesses of the trace and at the same time maintaining its parallelism with the trace engaging member 4 or with the corresponding face of the trace. This produces suflicient frictional engagement between the trace supporting members and the trace to prevent displacement of the fastener with relation to the trace in any direction under normal conditions of use. This will revent displacement of the blanket by the restlessness ofthe animal or by other causes.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and of the method of operation will be readily; apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the claim appended hereto.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A blanket fastener comprising a single piece of wire having one end pointed and the other end formed into a keeper for the pointed end of the wire, the said wire back of the point being bent into U form to constitute a blanket engaging pin and then at right angles to form one member of a trace supporting arm, the keeper end of the wire being in spaced parallel relation thereto to constitute a coacting trace supporting arm, with the remaining intermediate portion of the wire bent into spring loops and then into a substantially U-shaped loop with the connected end of the loop extending through the space between the trace supporting arms and constituting a trace engaging member with its free end in such relation to the spring loops that it may be grasped by the fore-finger of the user with the thumb of the same hand engaging the spring loops to move the part engaged by the fore-finger away from the blanket engaging pin.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. a 

